7 August 2000

Scientists from the University of Hawai`i in Manoa calibrate
thermal-monitoring instruments (radiometers) at a skylight (in background)
in the Smoke flow at the 2020-foot elevation above Pulama pali. The
instruments will be installed on the rim of Pu`u `O`o later this
year to provide real-time information about the temperature of
specific features within the crater. Such data will help calibrate
and interpret satellite images of thermal features on
volcanoes.

9 August 2000

Lava spouts onto bench and then into sea at an entry 100 m
east of Waha`ula at dusk. The weak fire hose arc is estimated
to be 1.5-2 m wide. During 45 minutes of observation, the flux slowly
waxed and waned by perhaps 20 percent but always maintained a steady
flow. The lava leaves the end of a tube that connects back to the
Pu`u `O`o area, 11 km away. Steam in background comes from main
Waha`ula entry.

11 August 2000

Sluggish toes of pahoehoe slowly spreading across coastal flat
200 m west of private access road to Royal Gardens. The pahoehoe
comes from a nearby crack in an inflating flow. Note the lava
starting to fall into a crack near right edge of photo.

Lava in pahoehoe toe slowly filling a crack, which formed during
cooling and possibly inflation of a flow surface several weeks ago.
Lava from the surface breakout shown above sags slowly, almost
reluctantly, into the crack.

Lava poised to cascade over old sea cliff east of Waha`ula (left)
and, several minutes later (right), pouring down onto the bench
below the cliff. Note the small ocean entries in the background
and on the black sand beach fronting the bench.

Gushes from the pahoehoe flow that is actively cascading over
the sea cliff. These lobes, however, are several tens of meters
behind the cliff (to the right) and probably will solidify
before making it to the cascade.

Darkness falls on coast east of Waha`ula, and two entry clusters
become apparent in middle ground. Note the people in the upper
right corner, standing just west of the lava cascade shown in
the photos above. Large steam plume in background comes from the
Waha`ula entry point.

Looking down onto small lava oozes and flows making their way across the bench to their
eventual demise in the warm sea. The lava is fed by the cascade along right side of view. Photo taken from
nearly the same place as photo above.

15 August 2000

Multiple breakouts from the lava tube at the 2250-foot elevation. This site, 1.5 km southeast of Pu`u `O`o, has been a frequent source of surface flows since late 1999. The rootless shields are just downstream of the site, which itself may become a rootless shield if activity continues for long.
Width of view, about 100 m.

(Left) HVO personnel at the edge of a new skylight at the 2200-foot
elevation. (Right) Lava stream visible in the 2200-foot skylight. The
ribbed texture on the flow is a thin crust that forms because the lava
cools as it flows past this large opening in the tube. Crusts of solid
lava (visible in the photo) are quickly forming on either side of the
stream, threatening to form a new roof over the stream within a few
days time.

29 August 2000

Many-fingered pahoehoe flow (silver) from breakout point at 2300-foot
elevation. The thin lobes are overrunning old (1985) `a`a flows (tan)
and recent `a`a flows (black) along the east side of the episode 55 flow
field. See large image for detail.

Shallow skylights in the new lava tubes, which are forming as surface flows
crust over near the 2300 ft breakout point.

31 August 2000

Surface flows resume after brief pause

Lava production at Pu`u `O`o paused from late on the night of August 23
until early evening on August 26. At the end of the pause, surface
breakouts from the tube resumed at the 2300-foot elevation, where they had
been active before the pause began. As of August 31, these breakouts
were continuing to advance but were still well above the top of Pulama pali.
The breakouts are overriding older flows from this eruption.

Map of flows from Pu`u `O`o to the ocean; 1 July 2000

Large
map. Map shows lava flows (red) on Pulama pali and coastal
plain active since October 1999, as well as flows erupted earlier from
Pu`u `O`o and Kupaianaha. Compare this map with that for the previous updates to
see how the flow has widened eastward between Royal Gardens and Waha`ula.
Lava reached the ocean at the Lae`apuki bench on December 17-18, 1999; this
was known as the West flow. The West flow has been inactive since early April. The
eastern part of the active flow field reached the Royal Gardens private
access road on January 11 and entered the sea near Waha`ula on February 3-14,
2000. The flow descending Pulama pali to feed this area is
the Smoke flow; it is currently the only active flow.

Eruption-viewing opportunities change constantly, so those readers planning
a visit to the volcano should contact Hawai`i
Volcanoes National Park for the most current eruption information (tel.
808-985-6000).

The URL of this page is http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/multimedia/archive/2000/Aug/
Contact:
hvowebmaster@usgs.govUpdated: 8 September 2000 (SRB)